General Surgery

Surgical Specialists Close to Home

The board-certified general surgeons at LewisGale live and work in our community, so you have access to surgical expertise when you need it close to home—backed by the resources of the nationally recognized LewisGale Regional Health System.

General surgeons are specialists trained to diagnose, treat and manage patients with a broad spectrum of surgical conditions affecting almost any area of the body. These might include the head and neck, breast, skin and soft tissues, abdomen, extremities and the gastrointestinal, vascular and endocrine systems.

Our experienced surgeons are able to diagnose a wide range of conditions and provide personalized, compassionate preoperative, operative and postoperative care. With advanced imaging and using the latest minimally invasive surgical techniques, more than 70 percent of our surgeries are performed on an outpatient basis. That means you’ll be home sooner and begin your recovery more quickly.

In 2011, healthcare’s highest accrediting body, The Joint Commission, recognized all four LewisGale hospitals for providing the highest level of evidence-based surgical care, an achievement directly tied to positive patient outcomes. Our surgical care has the lowest infection rates in Virginia, as well as length-of-stay and readmission rates that are better than national averages.

For those with chronic kidney disease, the nationally recognized Virginia Transplant Center offers hope for a healthier future. Through transplantation, a donated human organ is implanted into another person to restore health and prolong life. For someone whose kidneys are no longer working, a successful kidney transplant offers the promise of a better quality of life and longer life expectancy than what kidney dialysis can provide.

The Virginia Transplant Center, established more than 20 years ago at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond, is Virginia’s only community-based transplant program. The experienced surgical specialists at the center have performed more than 1,000 kidney transplants.

Kidney transplant evaluation and classes are available at LewisGale Medical Center in Salem, as well as at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital and Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center in Fredericksburg.

On the day of your surgery, a physician trained in anesthesiology (anesthesiologist) will explain the best pain prevention alternatives for you based on information gathered during your preadmission interview. Your anesthesiologist will monitor your well-being continuously during surgery.

If you receive a general or spinal anesthetic, you will be taken to the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) after your surgery. PACU nurses will monitor your blood pressure and provide pain medication upon request. Your physician or nurse will determine when it’s appropriate for you to return home or be moved to a postoperative room to continue your recovery.

Advanced Expertise in Specialized Areas

General surgeons at LewisGale have earned advanced certification in the areas of: